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Chamber of Secrets
- Chapter 9 (The Writing on the Wall) |owner=Salazar Slytherin - Chapter 16 (The Chamber of Secrets) |residents=Basilisk |affiliation= }} The Chamber of Secrets was an ancient room hidden within the deepest bowels of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, accessible only to the Heir of Salazar Slytherin. History Creation The precise date of the founding of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is uncertain, but it was widely regarded to have been around 992 A.D.. It was created by the four greatest witches and wizards of that age: Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people and witches and wizards were persecuted. For some years, the founders worked together harmoniously, seeking out those throughout the country who showed magical ability and bringing them to the castle to be educated. Disagreements soon sprung up, however, particularly between Slytherin and the others, for Slytherin wished to be more selective of the selection of students, wishing to limit their classes only to those who came from all-magic families. There were also arguments on whether or not the Dark Arts ought to be taught; Salazar wished to do so, while the others did not - New from J.K. Rowling: Chamber of Secrets. Before Slytherin was violently driven out of the school by a fierce fight with Gryffindor over the purity of blood, it was rumoured that he had built a subterranean chamber of sorts. He had originally intended that it would be a place in which Dark Magic could be taught without the other founders' knowledge, but by the time he had finished it, he had developed grandiose ideas of his own value to the school, carving a giant statue of himself and draping his chamber in statues of his emblem, the snake. Miscellaneous Between Tom Riddle's entrance of the Chamber in 1942 and the creation in the Middle Ages, it is clear that more than whispers existed of the Chamber's existence. It had been entered several other times, particularly by the Gaunt family, who could not help but boast of their knowledge of the existence of the Chamber, and it was thanks to Corvinus Gaunt that the trapdoor leading to the Chamber was replaced by a complicated sewer system. 1992-1993 On 31 October, 1992, the Chamber of Secrets was once again opened at Hogwarts, and Mrs Norris, the cat belonging to caretaker Argus Filch, was Petrified and hung from a torch bracket - Chapter 8 (The Deathday Party). With red paint, a message was daubed onto the wall above the torch: "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE". Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were the first ones to find the message and the cat, but within mere seconds, the entire school had noticed what had happened. For the next weeks, the Chamber was of much discussion throughout the school, even interrupting a History of Magic class with gossip. Only a short time later, in the dead of the night, Colin Creevey was found Petrified on the Grand Staircase, a bunch of grapes beside him - Chapter 10 (The Rogue Bludger). He was discovered by Minerva McGonagall, who was quickly joined by Albus Dumbledore, who had been on his way downstairs for some hot chocolate. This only served to prove Dumbledore's worst fear, that the Chamber of Secrets had indeed again been opened. By December, the school was rife with fear and suspicion, and students began travelling in packs - Chapter 11 (The Duelling Club). A Duelling Club was held in the Great Hall, at which Harry Potter inadvertently revealed that he was capable of speaking Parseltongue, and thus raising suspicion that he himself might be the legendary Heir. It was following an argument with a small group of Hufflepuffs in the library on this subject that Harry stumbled upon two victims of Slytherin's monster: Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick. This attack raised much more suspicion than the others had, for the monster had harmed not only a mortal, but also a ghost. It seemed that absolutely no one and nothing was safe from this beast. The sun began to shine once again, weak and bitter cold, over Hogwarts in later February - Chapter 13 (The Very Secret Diary). There had been no attacks for two months, and it was thought by most of the school that the Heir, whoever they were, had lost their nerve. Harry discovered a diary, which contained no writing and which would not hold ink. Late one night, he began writing in the diary, and to his astonishment, found that the diary was writing back from the perspective of Tom Riddle, a boy who had gone to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry fifty years prior. Riddle explained how in his fifth year, the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and the monster within unleashed. Several students were attacked, before one, a girl named Myrtle, was finally killed. Riddle caught the individual responsible and the student was expelled, but was not imprisoned, and therefore retained the ability to return to the school and finish Slytherin's work. The attacks, however, were far from over - Chapter 14 (Cornelius Fudge). Mere minutes before a Quidditch match was due to start, Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater were both attacked by the monster, and the school was put into a lockdown. Rubeus Hagrid, who had been accused of opening the Chamber fifty years prior when he was a student, was arrested by Cornelius Fudge, and Albus Dumbledore was forced out of his position by Lucius Malfoy. In very late May, a student was abducted into the Chamber itself, and the school was set to be foreclosed. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Gilderoy Lockhart ventured into the Chamber, but a rockslide caused by a backfiring Memory Charm forced Harry to head into the heart of the Chamber all alone. Whilst in the Chamber, Harry was confronted by the memory of Tom Riddle, which had been growing stronger throughout the year, feeding off of the energies of Ginny Weasley, to whom he had been writing through his mysterious diary - Chapter 17 (The Heir of Slytherin). Here it was finally revealed the truth at last: Ginny had been writing to the diary all year, and eventually Riddle coerced her into opening the Chamber of Secrets and having the Basilisk petrify Muggle-born students. Appearances *''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' *''Pottermore'' Notes and references